MONTCLAIR, N.J. --- For the five seniors on the Moravian College women's basketball team, the last 113 games have been a steady progression of getting better. Those careers ended with the quintet's first trip to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament as the Greyhounds fell to Cabrini College, 76-61, in a First Rounds game at Montclair State Friday evening.
"We progressively got better over the four years and made it to the NCAA Tournament our senior year," senior forward Laura Jordan said. "That is something to be proud of in our time at Moravian."
The group completes their four-year careers with an overall record of 73-40 over their 113 games with 13 games in the postseason. The quintet contributed 3,205 points, 1,885 rebounds, 713 assists, 668 steals and 306 blocked shots over the last four winters. They helped Moravian to records of 14-13, 17-12, 22-7 and 20-8 this winter.
"I can't say enough about these five seniors," stated 27th –year Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk, who was coaching in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time after picking up her 500th career victory back in January. "They have given the heart and souls to this program for the last four years, and I was thrilled that they got to experience the NCAA Tournament finally. Obviously, we would have liked a better outcome tonight but as Laura said, they have progressed each season and you really can't ask for anything else."
Senior guard Katie O'Rourke led the squad with 11 points and five assists against Cabrini to finish her career with 1,019 points (23rd in the record book), 561 rebounds (14th all-time), 355 assists (third in school history) and 202 steals (seventh at Moravian) as the only Greyhound player to hit all four milestones. Jordan finished the game with nine points, six rebounds and seven blocked shots to complete her career with 528 rebounds (17th all-time) and 198 blocked shots (second in school history. Jordan had 98 blocked shots this season as the Greyhounds set the school record with 239 blocked shots and will lead the nation for the year at 8.5 blocks per game.
Senior forward Ericka Blair tossed in seven points and added five rebounds and three steals in her final collegiate game while senior guard Danielle Brogan had eight points and three rebounds. Senior guard Alyssa Hann added two points and two boards for the Greyhounds.
Sophomore forward Alesha Marcks hit double figures Friday with ten points to go with three rebounds and a pair of assists for the Hounds while freshman guard Nellie Tanguay added eight points.
For Moravian, the two keys in the game came down to a cold night of shooting from the floor, and being out-rebounded by Cabrini. The Hounds connected on just 17-of-56 field goal attempts (30.4 percent), and they were just 4-fof-15 behind the three-point line. The Cavaliers had a 56-30 advantage on the glass including 19-6 on the offensive end that gave Cabrini a 22-5 edge in second chance points in the game.
Each time Moravian had a run to cut the score, Cabrini answered with its own run. For example, the Hounds scored the first five points of the second half to cut the deficit to 38-30 but the Cavaliers scored seven of the next eight points to push the lead back to double digits.
"I thought we did a good job and kept fighting," stated Spirk. "We made some runs but they answered right back. It was almost the same story in each game we lost this season. You have to play 40 minutes when you get to this level and unfortunately we didn't do that tonight. "
The Greyhounds actually forced the Cavaliers into more turnovers, 15-10, and Moravian had eight blocked shots. The teams were nearly identical at the foul line with the Hounds making 23-of-30 attempts and Cabrini connecting on 26-of-33 attempts.
Amber Keys led four Cabrini players in double figures with 22 points and 11 rebounds off the bench while Megan Decker also had a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Brittany Sandone tossed in 16 points while Annie Rivituso had 12 points, six rebounds and five assists.
The Hounds head into the offseason with 12 players returning next winter looking to build on what the 2013-14 squad has accomplished and to keep up the tradition of the program that has now played beyond the conference tournament in the postseason for 12 straight years.
